The ideas presented in Spiritual Tsunami: Bible Prophecy and World Events are Converging, are continued in a fictional format in The Storm Series. Eye of the Storm is the first book in the series. This blog continues to identify the world events happening every day and related to Bible prophecy that were not be included in the book before it went to the publisher. See also information and offers on the web site: http://whatscominginendtimes.com/

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

For too long believers in God Almighty, both
Jews and Gentiles have been sleeping. It is time to awake and stand up for what
we believe! This temporary home we call the world is growing increasingly
worse. Evil walks among us and many believers have become complacent and
apathetic—particularly under opposition. In the Christian New Testament, the
apostle Paul warned his disciple Timothy, “everyone who wants to
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and
impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim.
3:12-13 NIV).

In Joel Rosenberg’s Last Jihad novel, a Jewish believer
noted that “the problem with Americans is that they cannot recognize evil.” Our
schools, the media, and an increasingly degenerate culture has deceived us into
thinking that everything is all right; that everything will work out for good
in the end—a Pollyanna way of thinking. Psychologists describe this as magical thinking.

We talk among ourselves, our neighbors and
our church family about the world going to hell in a hand basket and yet that’s
all we do—talk. At some level we recognize there is danger among us, but of the
natural three responses to danger—to fight, to flee, or to freeze—we have
chosen the third—freeze (the deer in the
headlights response).

Even the enemy of freedom in America, the
community organizer, socialist and author of Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky In 1972 described the silent majority as “up for grabs” and
promised to “show the middle class their real enemies: the corporate power
elite that runs and ruins the country.” In 1980, Rev. Jerry
Falwell, a Baptist leader and founder of Liberty University, proclaimed that
“God is calling millions of Americans in the so-often silent majority to join
in the moral-majority crusade to turn America around.” For a time, the new
moral majority concept prevailed and resulted in the election of Ronald Reagan
to the presidency of the United States.

Today, where once Christian morals undergirded
our country’s value system, we have degenerated into ways of thinking and
acting that are more in accord with pagan ideals than Christian ideals. On the
whole we have forgotten who the Lord is. Today, we are better described by the
apostle Paul’s words to Timothy; “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God—having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:1-5 NIV).

We have become the sheeple so loved by evil deceivers such
as Saul Alinsky, George Soros, and Barack Obama.

“For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12 NIV).

We are in a war against evil

The church is at war against
supernatural forces, yet many (most) believers are ignorant of their ability to
enter the fight using spiritual weapons—prayer, praise, and the Word of God. As
I noted in a previous post, our weapons are not those commonly employed by
armies. “We do not fight as the enemy
does (2 Cor. 10:3). Our weapons are not worldly (2 Cor. 10:4); they are even
more powerful.

The Lord has equipped us to fight the battle

The Lord has imparted to believers both
defensive and offensive equipment to respond to the attacks of the evil ones.
We must not let that equipment lie idle, but employ it in the battle.

Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan employ the
Kevlar armor issued by the Army for defense. Christians muse likewise employ
the armor issued by the Lord: Belt of truth, Breastplate of righteousness,
Combat boots of the gospel of peace, Shield of faith, and the Helmet of
salvation.

Modern soldiers employ a variety of weapons
for offense. God has also issued believers offensive weapons: Sword of the
Spirit—God’s Word and Prayer in the Spirit. Prayer in this case also includes
praise as a weapon. King Jehoshaphat employed praise in his battle against
three allied attacking armies with great success (2 Chron. 20).

Vigilance is paramount

Just as an army relies upon vigilance, so the
church must be vigilant. Vigilance in a threat environment includes posting of
watchmen. Jesus exhorted the church (all mature believers) to be on watch (see
Matt. 24:42; 25:13; Mark 13:35-37; Luke 21:36). Armies would post watchmen.
Jesus has posted watchmen as well.

Sheepdogs are used to protect defenseless
sheep. New believers or those not yet ready for the battle must be protected by
the sheepdogs of the church. Sheepdogs
will keep the wolves at bay which would attack the sheep. By themselves, sheep
tend to ignorantly walk into dangerous situations.

Sheep are naturally ignorant

The writer of the book
of Hebrews wrote, “It is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In
fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach
you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not
solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted
with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by
constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb.
5:11-14). Complacency will cause believers to lose the alertness necessary for
safety in a dangerous world.

Regular exercise of spiritual disciplines
will keep us sharp. Just as physical inactivity will result in physical
decline, so spiritual inactivity will result in spiritual decline and loss of
the necessary sharpness of spiritual discernment.

Regular attendance at church gatherings for
worship, prayer, praise and Bible study; regular reading and meditation on the
Word of God (the Bible); and regularly serving others will act to keep one
sharp.

Making the most of every
opportunity

“Everything exposed by
the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This
is why it is said: ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you.’ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:13-16
NIV).

Followers

About Me

Dr. Fred Thompson (Doctor of Ministry) is an ordained Assemblies
of God minister, Bible teacher, educator and student of God’s Word. He teaches
classes and seminars on bible prophecy and other Bible-based topics.

Thompson’s engineering, business, military (Navy chaplain), and
church experience enables him to relate to regional and global current events.